Rachel Monosov and Admire Kamudzengerere

RACHEL MONOSOV (b. 1987, St. Petersburgh, Russia)

Bridging photography, video, performance and sculpture, Russian-born RachelMonosov delves into cultural notions of alienation, territorial belonging, gender,and identity. Nature serves as a source for the artist’s imagery and objects, whichcan be interpreted as both symbolic and indexical. While her early careerfocused on autobiographical works steeped with a desire to grapple with herpersonal history, in recent years her work has reflected a rootless present rifewith broader social implications.

Monosov works on a project basis, each year producing several bodies of workin a variety of themes and methodologies. She constructs entire worlds aroundher subjects, which function pursuant to their own set of rules and laws.Together, the works speak on socio-political issues related to territory asgeography and body.

Monosov holds two MFAs in Filmmaking and Fine Art from The Royal Academyof Fine Arts (KASK) in Ghent, Belgium, and her BA from Bezalel Academy inJerusalem, Israel. In the past two years, she has exhibited at the ZimbabwePavilion of the 57th Venice Biennale in collaboration with artist AdmireKamudzengerere, at the 11th Bamako Biennial, and at the Dakar Biennial; and inmuseum exhibitions at the BOZAR and Museum Dhondt-Dhaenens in Belgium,and the National Gallery of Zimbabwe in Harare. Her work has been acquiredinto the permanent collections of the Block Museum at Northwestern Universityand The Art Institute of Chicago, among other international public and privatecollections. Monosov has exhibited in galleries, foundations and film festivalsglobally, and has been the subject of much critical acclaim. She is a co-founderof the CTG Collective, and currently lives and works in Berlin.

ADMIRE KAMUDZENGERERE (b. 1981, Harare, Zimbabwe)

Admire Kamudzengerere’s work explores identity, politics, and society, ofteninformed by the multifaceted structural and social issues that have markedZimbabwe’s last decade. Working in various media, he frequently reveals anunequal world in which the powerful ride roughshod over the weak. Hismonotype self-portraits, intense and indefinable, speak to personal struggle,self-definition, and father-son relationships, but are also pieces of a universalpuzzle invoking a unifying human thread—the fil rouge of community andancestry.

Kamudzengerere completed the Rijksakademie van Beeldende Kunstenprogram in Amsterdam in 2012, and in 2017 mounted his first solo exhibition atCatinca Tabacaru Gallery in New York. The same year, he represented Zimbabweat the 57th Venice Biennial, participated in the Triangle Residency in in NewYork, and was included in the Bamako Biennial. Most recently Kamudzengerereexhibited at the Portland Center for Contemporary Art & Culture, was awardedthe On Demand Prize by Snaporazverein at MiArt in Milan, and was presented atthe 13th Dakar Biennale.

In addition to private collections around the world, Kamudzengerere’s work hasbeen acquired into the permanent collections of the Block Museum atNorthwestern University, and The Art Institute of Chicago.